Great opening pot from Ronnie in frame 16. Fancy him to knock in a century here to wrap it up.
Red Rover.
An outstanding frame of snooker from the Rocket.
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No century to finish it off but a record breaking 7th UK Championship and 19th triple crown win.
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Unquestionably the GOAT
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No doubt the most talented but not the GOAT. Beating chumps like Ali Carter, Graeme Dott and Barry Hawkins in World Finals means an asterisk should be placed after these victories. The only person of note he has beaten in a World Final is known match-thrower, John Higgins. Hendry was the greatest.
Without doubt, the GOAT.
Hendry beat serial choker Jimmy White in a load of finals and Nigel Bond. The competition wasn’t too hectic.
Hendry was a fine player but Ronnie is the greatest. Ronnie has had to contend with much tougher opponents than Hendry across a number of eras at this stage. Hendry was in his pomp as Steve Davis went into decline and just as O’Sullivan, Higgins and Williams were emerging. He had it all to himself for 8-9 years.
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This is true.
Ronnie has seen off all comers over 25 years now. There is no debate here tbh.
Stephen was a class apart in Snooker in a completely different era, an era when safety play was more important than break building and long potting imo.
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Hendry himself, would tell you Ronnie is the GOAT.
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Ronnie’s biggest opponent is himself.
When he’s at it, no one else comes close
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The paucity of opposition currently is over looked. You have lads like Stuart Bingham, Shaun Murphy, winning world titles. Even a 43 year old Mark Williams won last year. Mark Selby seems to be only half decent player in the last few years and has frequently put Ronnie to the Sword. Lads over reacting to O Sullivan beating a fat tub of lard in Mark Allen. You couldn’t make it up. Hendry in his pomp would crush Ronnie. There were times when it looked like Hendry would never miss.
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To be the greatest you have to beat everyone. Ronnie allowed a trudger like Selby get the better of him in the Worlds. While Hendry lost an odd match he dominated snooker in a way O’Sullivan never has.
The clearance will go down as one of the finest in snooker history as Hendry, having lost the previous six frames to titleholder Ronnie O’Sullivan, embarked on a remarkable run of shots.
Hendry once hit 7 centuries in a UK final against Ken Doherty. It was first to 10. There has never been snooker played like it since. When they met in the 90s Hendry had an overwhelming winning record against O Sullivan and hammered him on a few occasions. Hendry was never the same after losing his cue and his star declined in the naughties. Peak Hendry was greater than peak O Sullivan.
90’s outside of Hendry wasn’t a great era for snooker. Jimmy White was around for pretty much all of the 80’s. He made a world semi final in 1982, got to one World Final in 1984 and only won one triple crown in the 1980’s, the Masters in 1984. Suddenly in the 1990’s as the great Steve Davis went into decline and the supporting cast of Terry Griffiths, Cliff Thorburn, Alex Higgins and Denis Taylor departed, Jimmy White is in the world final practically every year in the early to mid 1990’s.
It’s laughable to suggest that the chasing pack today is not as good as what Hendry faced.
I recall that match. Doherty got 5 frames off him which was a miracle.
O’Sullivan ultimately has underachieved in his career. He is incredibly gifted and should have blown Hendry’s Worlds record away by now. I also think Hendry had a better standard of opponent particularly late on in his career.
Jimmy White was a great player. If he was born later he’d have had as many world titles as Mark Williams. Maybe more.
But later on in the 90s a new batch of players came on the scene. Higgins, O’Sullivan, Doherty even, Williams, Stevens, Paul Hunter - all better than what O’Sullivan faces today.
Agreed. I was a big Ken Doherty fan and what he achieved in the game nobody can take away from him. But how he managed to win 5 frames just shows what a great player he was. Most other players would have laid a big fat goose egg against Hendry that day.